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Vol. 4, No. 8 — August 15, 2008
In This Issue:
Hummingbird Habitats
Magazine Excerpt: Sage Advice on Salvias
August To-Do List
Spotlight Special: Carousel Little Bluestem
Reader Contest: TerraCycle Pot and Plant Spikes
Local Gardening Events
Welcome to the
Washington Gardener Enews!
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In this monthly enewsletter, we will:
address timely seasonal topics and projects; post local garden events; and, include a monthly reminder list of what you can be doing now in your garden.
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The July/August 2008 Washington Gardener magazine is available now. If you subscribe by August 25, you can start your subscription with this issue. Single copies of this issue can be purchased directly from Washington Gardener. The issue is also on sale at area Borders, Barnes and Noble, and B. Dalton book stores plus many independent stores like the USNA's Arbor House. This issue's cover story is "Landscaping with Ornamental Grasses." It also includes stories on Maymont, Salvias, Morning Glory, Slugs, and, much, much more.
Hummingbird Habitats
When I wanted to talk hummingbird gardens I went straight to the expert, Bill Hilton Jr., Executive Director of the Hilton Pond Center in York, SC, and the force of nature behind Operation RubyThroat: The Hummingbird Project. The first thing Bill, a science educator and nature writer, straightened me out on was that hummingbird “habitat” was a more appropriate goal. While a garden full of the hummingbird’s favorite nectar plants would be terrific, Bill urges home gardeners to also provide the thumb-sized birds with shrubs for protection from predators, water features that help attract small insects hummingbirds need for fats and proteins, and trees to nest in.
In our Mid-Atlantic area, the earliest hummingbirds we’d see would be the first week of April. So Bill advises gardeners to put up one feeder by April 1. “No need to have it full,” says Bill. “Just a quarter to half full is fine at that point. Then have two or three up later on.” The height of ruby-throated hummingbird season for us is now -- mid-August to early September. We see the last of them usually by October 1.
Some local birders and gardeners have noted fewer hummingbirds in their gardens this year. “Don't panic,” soothes Bill. “It’s just a low cycle year and we really won't know till the end of migration whether the numbers are truly down or not. It was a slow start this year, but now my counts are up to average. One reason could be the cool spring we had across the Southeast and a late frost that may have caused early eggs loss. On the other hand, this trumpet creeper blooming year is the best I’ve ever seen and that is the single most important nectar source for them so they should benefit from that.”
On Bill’s web site, www.rubythroat.org, he lists the Top 10 Native Hummingbird Plants. Trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans) tops the list. Followed closely by Beebalm (Monarda didyma), Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) and Spotted Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis). Hummingbirds are particularly drawn to the red-orange color range that contrasts most with green. “It is easiest to see against the background of nature,” notes Bill. “And red-orange flowering plants carry the heavy nectar loads that require hummingbird pollination. Plant natives when possible, the hummingbirds evolved with them.”
I asked Bill what we, as home gardeners, could avoid doing while trying to attract hummingbirds to our yards. “No pesticides!” Bill exclaimed. “They kill the small insects that hummingbirds need for protein, vitamins, and minerals.” He continued, “If you have feeders, don't let the sugar water go bad. Change it twice a week in hot weather, if they don't drain it. There is no need to buy commercial mixed sugar water. Make your own and avoid the artificial red dye. We are not for sure the dye is harmful, but it certainly has no benefit and most all feeders have red on them so it is not needed to attract the birds.”
If you are interested in interacting up close with hummingbirds, Bill hosts an annual trip to Costa Rica in late winter. Each year they band and observe hundreds of hummingbirds to track and find where they migrate to and from. To find out all about hummingbirds, visit www.rubythroat.org.
Happy Growing!
Kathy Jentz
Editor/Publisher
Washington Gardener
P.S. Use these balmy summer days to start saving your seeds for our Fourth Annual Washington Gardener Seed Exchange on January 31, 2009 at Brookside Gardens.
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Local Gardening Events
Here is a selection of upcoming events (August 16-September 15) in the greater DC area of interest to gardeners:
DC
Rain Gardens – Learn How to Manage Stormwater Beautifully
August 22, 12:00noon–1:00pm
U.S Botanic Garden, National Mall, Washington, DC
Learn the five types of rain gardens that are easiest for homeowners to install. Get tips on how to design, plant, and maintain your rain garden. After the talk, participants will have the chance to view the Chesapeake Conservation Landscaping Council's demonstration "RainScape" garden on the USBG grounds to check out some beautiful landscape elements that also control stormwater runoff.
Fee: $0/Free. Registration is not required.
For more information: www.usbg.org or call 202.225.8333.
Beyond the Black Mountain: Color, Pattern and Form in American Viewing Stones
September 4 to October 13, 10:00am-5:00pm
United States National Arboretum, 3501 New York Avenue, NE, Washington, DC
See 100 American viewing stones from one of the largest and finest private collections in the United States. The exhibit brought from California by noted stone collectors Jim and Alice Greaves, is a representation of the stones they collected for over 35 years throughout the deserts and rivers of North America. A selection of touchable stones is included in the exhibit for visitors to enjoy an up-close perspective of these natural art forms.
Fee: $0/Free. Preregistration is not required.
For more information: www.usna.usda.gov or call 202.245.4565 .
A Sunday Afternoon Oasis
September 14, 1:00-5:00 pm
Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens 4155 Linnean Avenue, NW Washington, DC
Savor this special Sunday opening by visiting our formal gardens and seeing truly spectacular chrysanthemum displays and other horticultural delights throughout the gardens.
Fee: Included in museum and grounds admission. Preregistration is not required.
Details at www.hillwoodmuseum.org or call 202.686.5807.
MD and PA
Koi and Wine Festival
August 30-31
Lilypons Water Gardens, 6800 Lily Pons Road, Adamstown, MD
Water Gardening lectures by Richard Koogle, at 12noon both days. Bring a picnic lunch or purchase lunch there. Register your water loving dog now for the Doc Dog Contest. Wine Tasting provided by Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard. Music provided by The Star Spangled Big Band.
Fee: $0/Free. Registration is not required.
For more information: www.lilypons.com or call 800.999.5459.
Friends of Brookside Gardens' Fall Plant Sale
September 13, 10:00am-3:00pm
Brookside Gardens, 1800 Glenallan Ave., Wheaton MD
Plant sale of special and rare selections. Some plants propagated from Brookside's own collection. Some plants sourced from wholesale vendors. Friends of Brookside members have early entrance hours 8:00-10:00am and get a 10 percent discount. Please note: cash or checks only -- further no ATM is available on the Brookside Gardens grounds.
Fee: $0/Free. Registration is not required.
For more information, call 301.962.1400 or go to www.brooksidegardens.org.
Free Plant Clinics
August-September, Saturdays, 10:00am-1:00pm
Davis Library, 6400 Democracy Blvd., Bethesda, MD
Montgomery County Master Gardeners answer gardening questions at eight locations around the County during the gardening season. Bring your full and intact plant and insect samples, garden problems, and questions and get free answers.
Fee: $0/Free. Registration is not required.
For more information: www.extension.umd.edu or call 301.590.9650.
VA and WV
Propagation Series Part 1: Seed Saving
September 6, 9:30-11:00am
4603 Green Spring Road, Alexandria, VA
A gardener who saves seed saves money, prepares for the future, stays linked with the past, selects improvements, and is constantly surprised. Learn the basics of seed saving, including: seed harvest, drying, cleaning and storage. Venture into our gardens with Mary Frogale, propagation horticulturist, and collect seed to take home from unique annuals and perennials.
Fee: $22. Registration is required.
For more information: www.greenspring.org or call 703.642.5173.
Heritage Harvest Festival
September 6, 10:00a,-4:00pm
Monticello's Tufton Farm, near Charlottesville, VA
Co-sponsored with Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, the 2nd annual Heritage
Harvest Festival is a family-oriented, educational event designed to promote
healthy gardening practices and preserve heirloom plants. The Festival will
highlight the efforts of non-profit organizations supporting sustainable
agriculture as well as of for-profit groups promoting organics and “slow food”
principles; and will provide an array of food vendors and free samples. The
Festival will also include informative workshops and lectures by renowned
authorities like Michael McConkey, Tom Burford, and herbalist, Cyrus Hyde.
Workshops in cider making, seed saving, and the ever-popular melon, tomato,
and apple tastings will make for a memorable afternoon at Tufton.
Fee: $0/Free. Registration is required.
For details, call 540.894.9480 or visit www.HeritageHarvestFestival.com.
Through the Garden Gate Tour
September 13, 9:00am-12:00noon
Ted Peters' residence, 108 Warren Lane, Charlottesville, VA
A series of monthly tours of private informal gardens in the greater Charlottesville area. Fleurjolie is a lovely garden started by Gladys Peters in 1964. She was inspired by the Warren Cloud’s azalea and rhododendron garden next door. For 35 years, she designed, improved and maintained this garden. Gladys’ son, Ted Peters, assisted his mother with some aspects of the garden and now maintains it himself full time. Fleurjolie is on an acre of land which includes azaleas, rhododendrons, conifers, crape myrtle, boxwoods, and many other shrubs. Ted also has a number of perennials and several dahlia beds. There are a stream, pond, and waterfall in years with sufficient rain. Paths run through these gardens with many areas landscaped with some uncommon plants. If the deer allow, there should be some
colorful dahlia beds in full bloom.
Fee: $5. Registration is required.
For details: visit www.piedmontmastergardeners.org or call 434.872.4580.
Special Washington Gardener Magazine Event
Tomato Tasting
August 23, 10:00am-12:00noon
FreshFarm Market, Ellsworth Drive between Fenton Street and Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD
Sample the multitude of tomatoes at market and vote on your favorites. Stop by for tomato recipes, growing tips, and much more.
Fee: $0/Free. Registration is not required.
For more information: www.freshfarmmarkets.org or call 202.362.8889.
For even more area garden event notices than we can't possibly squeeze in here, become a member of our free online discussion group. To join the email list serv, just send an email to: WashingtonGardener-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
To submit an event for this listing, please contact: Wgardenermag@aol.com and put "Event" in the email subject head. PLEASE NO ATTACHMENTS! Our next deadline is September 12 for the September 15 edition of this enewsletter featuring events from September 16-October 15.
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Spotlight Special: Carousel Little Bluestem
Carousel Little Bluestem PPAF (Schizachyrium scoparium ‘Carousel’) is a dwarf and somewhat mounded selection of little bluestem, discovered by Donald Boehm at Boehm's Garden Center in Rushville, IL. Mr. Boehm selected 'Carousel' for its unique rounded, bowl-shaped habit, superior resistance to lodging in winter, and attractive fall color. Its fine green foliage and distinctive upright flowering stems transform into a kaleidoscope of colors in autumn that includes copper, pink, tan, and dark orange-red. The stems become beige, but stay upright and attractive all winter. Schizachyrium is a warm-season, clump-forming grass native to the prairies and open woods of North America. 'Carousel' requires no supplemental water or fertilizer. It is stunning when used in mass plantings, works
well in a variety of soil types and is very drought tolerant. 'Carousel' will reach 30" tall and 30" wide. Zones 3-9.
Chicagoland Grows® is an innovative plant introduction program developed to promote the use of new plant cultivars that are well-adapted to the growing conditions of the Upper Midwest. While regional in focus, the program’s plants can be grown successfully in all zone-appropriate regions of North America, Europe, and around the world. Chicagoland Grows® is a corporate partnership among the Chicago Botanic Garden, the Morton Arboretum, and the Ornamental Grower’s Association of Northern Illinois (OGA), a network of wholesale nurseries located in northeastern Illinois.
'Carousel' is available in nurseries in the Midwest and by mail order. It is being trialed in the Mid-Atlantic this year and next and is expected to reach our local garden centers in 2009-10.
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Reader Contest
For our August 2008 Washington Gardener Reader Contest, Washington Gardener is giving away a pair of eco-friendly products from TerraCycle, Inc. to one lucky reader.
The first unique product is TerraCycle’s Urban Art Planting Pot. This lightweight, durable planting pot is made entirely from used plastic, the majority of which is salvaged from discarded electronic equipment and wrecked automobiles. More then just environmentally beneficial the TerraCycle Urban Art Planting Pot is socially beneficial as well. Every one of these unique planting pots is hand painted by inner city artists at TerraCycle’s headquarters in Trenton, NJ. TerraCycle recruited artists from the Trenton-area, giving these talented artists the opportunity to earn money by positively expressing their art form. The pots are painted in bright color schemes and come in several different styles and colors, making each one stylish and unique. The pot in our contest is blue (similar to the
one pictured here.)
The second product is TerraCycle’s organic Tree and Shrub Fertilizer Spikes. The Fertilizer Spikes are made from worm poop, chicken poop, and other natural ingredients that are pressed into spikes, which can be hammered into the ground for feeding trees and shrubs. The Fertilizer Spikes have a balanced formula of the three primary nutrients designed for trees and shrubs. TerraCycle guarantees an NPK analysis of 6-3-4. Unlike some other organic and all-natural fertilizers, the TerraCycle Fertilizer Spikes have no unpleasant odor, but instead have a natural, earthy smell. The are made from all natural ingredients and packaged in reused two liter plastic bottles.
To enter to win the set of both TerraCycle products, send an email with "TerraCycle" in the subject line to WashingtonGardener@rcn.com by 5:00pm on August 31. In the body of the email please include your full name and address. The prize winner will be announced and notified on September 1.
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August To-Do List
Here is our comprehensive garden task list for gardens in the greater DC metro region for August 16-September 15. Your suggestions and additions to this list are most welcome:
- It is harvest time and also a good time to start taking stock if what worked well for you and what didn't.
- Pick raspberries and peaches at a local pick-your-own farm or visit a local farmer's market.
- Let the lawn go dormant for now, it will green back up in the coming rains.
- Check your local garden center for end-of-summer bargains.
- If your pond water gets low from prolonged drought, top it off with tap water and add a dechlorinator according to package instructions.
- Wash out birdbaths weekly with diluted bleach solution.
- Water thoroughly especially if you receive no rain for more than 5-7 days.
- Turn your compost pile weekly and don't let it dry out.
- Start shopping for spring bulbs.
- Divide and cut back bearded iris.
- Check your pond pump for debris and clean it out every few weeks.
- Watch for slug damage and set out traps or Sluggo bait.
- Check for mosquito breeding grounds. Dump out any water that sits stagnant for more than three days.
- Weed.
- Take garden photos and make notes in your garden journal.
- Start collecting plant seeds for next year and for trading.
- As the days get cooler, plant hardy mums.
- Prune evergreens to get in shape for fall/winter.
- Hand pick or cut out any bagworm cocoons.
- Harvest your herbs often and keep them trimmed back to encourage leafy growth. Dry them indoors, if you can't use them right away.
- Bring Christmas cactus and Poinsettias indoors if you took them out for the summer in preparation for holiday blooming. Fertilize them and put them in a place where they'll get just 10 hours bright light per day.
- Inspect for powdery mildew. If seen, prune back perennials to create needed circulation. Discard properly (i.e. not in your compost bin).
- Clean your hummingbird feeders and add new sugar-water every three days.
- Renew your container plantings which may be looking a bit ragged at this point. Pinch back overgrown plants. Pull out any spent ones and pop in some substitute annuals or mums. Keep them well-watered and add a little liquid fertilizer every few weeks to keep them going through early autumn.
- Switch your deer deterrent spray.
- Start seeds for fall annuals such as pansy, calendula, and kale.
- Plant fall crops such as Chinese cabbage, lettuce, radish, mustard, broccoli, kohlrabi, cauliflower, and beets.
- Attend a county fair.
- Preserve gourds and dry flowers for display in the fall.
- Apply grub control to your lawn.
- Divide hostas and daylilies.
Have a wonderful 2008 growing season!
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Magazine Excerpt: Sage Advice, Sun-Loving Salvias for the Summer Garden by Kate Tyndall
If your familiarity with sages begins and ends with the culinary herb, hold on to your hat. The salvia (botanical name for sage) tribe is a huge one, and it holds a whole host of ornamental plants that can grace your garden with brilliant color from June through October.
My first introduction to salvias, years ago, was to one of the many cultivars of Salvia splendens, a tender bedding plant about 10 inches tall with an upright spike of tubular blooms. I was underwhelmed by their regimental appearance and need for constant deadheading. And whenever I heard the virtues of salvias extolled, I simply turned away.
Don’t do what I did, I beg you. You will be missing out on a genus of fabulous plants that are still woefully underused in the landscape. Even if you haven’t any landscape to speak of, a great many of the salvias make wonderful pot plants. For the modicum of care they require, you will be generously rewarded with color, fragrance, and texture over a long season.
In addition to these attributes, salvias are bee, butterfly, and hummingbird magnets. Grow a few of these nectar-rich plants and your garden will come alive. Some of the best salvias are native to the Western United States, and are tough, drought-tolerant plants. Others hail from Mexico and other parts of Central and South America. There are about 900 salvia species and over half are native to the Americas.
Admittedly, many of the shrubby salvias are considered tender perennials in our area, but after years of experimentation I can tell you that certain salvia species, like the greggiis, guaraniticas, and microphyllas and all their many hybrids, can stand up to our humidity levels and make fine garden plants in our area with proper siting. What salvias require is...
Want to learn more about the Salvias and which grow best in our Mid-Atlantic region? Read the rest of this article in the July/August 2008 issue of Washington Gardener magazine.
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Next Issue
The September 15, 2008 issue of Washington Gardener Enews will list the Top Trees for Fall Foliage in the Mid-Atlantic.
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Edited by Kathy Jentz
Contact: WGardenerMag@aol.com or 301.588.6894.
©Washington Gardener 2008
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